Various arrangements exist for the connection of leads from inductive devices, such as a transformer, to the power source and other wiring. Typically, an inductive device comprises one or more coils of magnet wire forming primary and secondary windings, to which larger size power supply and other wiring leads are connected. This is done either directly or through the intermediate use of a terminal board. The power supply and other wiring leads which extend from the inductive device are either to be connected directly to the power supply or to other wiring circuits.
In one type of an inductive device, a ballast transformer for fluorescent lamps, a leadless arrangement is used in which a connector is located in an end wall of the ballast transformer housing. The transformer within the housing is provided at one or both ends with a terminal board having a plurality of lugs. The magnet wires of the various transformer coils, some of which wires extend across the top of the coils, are attached to the terminal board lugs by conventional soldering, i.e., heating a metallic compound to a molten state. Next, an internal socket wire harness assembly is made by stripping the ends of insulated wires. One of the ends of each of these wires is soldered to a terminal board lug and the other end to a terminal of the connector in the housing end wall. Accessory components, such as capacitors, resistors, etc., may also be soldered to the terminal board lugs. The connector has a number of pins to which connection is made to other circuits or wires by a socket which is plugged into the connector from outside the housing.
During assembly of this type of device, the insulated wire leads used within the housing must be stripped. Also, connection of the lead wires to the terminal board lugs and the connector terminals and the connection of other components such as capacitors and thermal cut-outs requires a substantial amount of connecting operations, such as twisting and crimping and soldering of individual connections. The assembly is time consuming. Also, the presence of various lead wires and magnet wires results in an arrangement of wires which is somewhat dispersed and often raises difficulty in lead and component dressing. In general, the entire process including the soldering is time consuming, requires considerable manual labor and also has environmental problems in the production of fumes during the soldering operation.